Biophysical Society Newsletter - January 2016

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BIOPHYSICAL SOCIETY NEWSLETTER

2016

JANUARY

SACNAS/ABRCMS Increasing Knowledge about Biophysics at Conferences for Minority Students in Science This fall, representatives from the Biophysical Society joined students from all over the coun- try at two of the largest annual conferences for underrepresented minority students in science, the SACNAS National Conference (Society for Advancement of Hispanics/Chicanos and Native Americans in Science), as well as ABRCMS (the Annual Biomedical Research Conference for Mi- nority Students). Attendees had the opportunity to learn about the Society’s Summer Research Program in Biophysics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, as well as other Society activities and meetings. Many students who stopped by the booth at both meetings were unsure what the field of biophysics encompassed, but some students were already confident in their interest in pursuing biophysics research. This year, SACNAS took place in National Harbor, Maryland, in late October, at the Gaylord Convention center on the banks of the Potomac River. Lisa Phillippie , the on-site ad- ministrator at the University of North Carolina, for the Summer Research Program in Biophys- ics, helped staff the BPS booth to give students details about the summer program and the labs open to summer students. Committee on Diver-

sity and Inclusion (CID) members Luis Marky , University of Nebraska, and Silvia Cavagnero , University of Wisconsin, Madison, took a look at biophysics-related posters throughout the meeting to select two students to receive a travel award to attend the BPS Annual Meeting in Los Angeles this February. The SACNAS travel award winner is Lauren Thurlow , a McNair Scholar at Loyola Marymount University. In November, BPS representatives headed to a reliably rainy Seattle, Washington, for ABRCMS. Lisa Phillips was once again on-site to provide students with firsthand knowledge of the summer research opportunity. Local BPS member Karen Thickman , University of Washington, along with BPS CID member Candice Etson , Wesleyan University, judged undergraduate posters on biophysical topics. Winners of travel awards to the BPS Annual Meeting from ABRCMS include Josean Reyes , University of Puerto Rico, Kyle Lopez , University of Arizona, and Saffron R. Little , Fisk University. In addition to travel awards, BPS sponsored sev- eral poster awards at the two meetings. The poster award winners from SACNAS, all undergraduate students, were Santiago Sanchez , University of California, Santa Cruz, and Itzel Tejeda , El Paso Community College. Poster award winners at ABRCMS were among those selected in the cat- egory of Engineering, Physics, and Mathematics from which 22 students were provided awards.

March 7–11, 2016